In the 1890s, New Zealand legislators established the Arbitration Court as an ad hoc system for settling industrial disputes; by the mid-twentieth century the Court had become a pillar of New Zealand's welfare state. This transformation did not proceed smoothly, however, because of a mismatch between the mission and its managers. The judges who presided over the court were more interested in legal principles and forensic debate than the bargains of workers and their employers. They considered their tenure as a purgatory to be endured until they were promoted to full-time service on the New Zealand Supreme Court. This mismatch resulted because the Court evolved into an institution that differed from the founders' intent and because a dearth of other professionals left only the judiciary as a vehicle for putting the resolution of industrial disputes beyond the reach of partisan politics.

The article originally appeared in the Turnbull Library Record 29 (1996): 59-78. It appears now on the web by kind permission of the Friends of the Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand.